Native American and Canadian First Nations Took Part In Largest Act of Civil Disobedience to Stop Keystone XL Pipeline

The U.S. Department of State and President Barack Obama announced they would seek a new environmental review of the Keystone XL pipeline. This will delay and hopefully stop the Trans Canada Corporation from pursuing to build the 1,700 mile long Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline is part of the expansion of the flow of dirty oil from the tar sands of Canada. The Indigenous Environmental Network, through its Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign and its Keystone XL Pipeline organizing work has successfully put an indigenous and human rights face to this dangerous and environmental destructive tar sands pipeline.

The Obama Administration decision to delay the Keystone XL Presidential Permit decision until 2013 to evaluate other options, such as rerouting the pipeline around the Ogalalla Aquifer and the Sand Hills of Nebraska buys time to strengthen the organizing work to stop the pipeline entirely. However, it is hopeful this delay will give the government the ability to offer this project the scrutiny it deserves. One of the demands the Indigenous Environmental Network has requested of the U.S. government within its pipeline environmental assessment process is the need to strengthen and ensure pipeline safety overall, in the U.S.

There is growing opposition to the Canadian tar sands. It is the tar sands in northern Alberta, Canada, located with the traditional territories of Cree, Dene and Métis indigenous communities from where the dirty tar-like oil is taken out of the ground, devastating the ecosystem, polluting the water and causing human health illnesses and deaths. With the voices of the First Nation Chiefs such as Bill Erasmus of Northwest Territories, Canada and George Stanley, from Alberta, Canada and the voices of Native grassroots young people from the tar sands impact zone, Americans are better informed of the human rights issues connected to the pipeline.

Internet site reference: http://www.ienearth.org/stop-keystone-xl/victory-with-delay-of-the-keystone-xl.html